Veganism is on the rise worldwide, which will likely come as no surprise to residents of Vancouver, where the cruelty-free food craze has been thriving for some time.

According to a new study from Chef’s Recipe, Vancouver ranks fourth worldwide and second in North America for interest in veganism.

“Vancouver has long been regarded as one of the most vegetarian-friendly cities in North America and Canada,” the online cookbook website explained. “And veganism continues to thrive in the city — so much so that vegan love has become a stereotype for Vancouverites.”

That it has, though it’s worth noting the vegan lifestyle has been spreading throughout the entire province, with nearly 40 per cent of British Columbians 35 and under saying they follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, according to national survey data. It’s more than three times higher than the average for all Canadians.

“I’m not surprised by (B.C.’s) results,” food reporter and vegan evangelist Erin Ireland told Postmedia last March. “Vancouver in particular is known for having great plant-based restaurants. It’s becoming a real destination for travellers who want to eat plant-based food.”

Coincidentally, British Columbia has the lowest obesity rates in Canada.

Chef’s Recipe based their study on Google Trends data, which shows the interest level of a given topic by comparing searches made for that topic to all Google searches made in that particular location.

According to the data, Vancouver finished just ahead of Seattle, and behind only Bristol, England; Portland, Oregon; and Edinburgh, Scotland.

It’s worth noting, however, that Vancouver was third the year prior, slipping one spot in the rankings in 2018. But this is likely due in large part to the rise of veganism worldwide, as the rest of the world, especially the U.K. and Europe, pushes the craze into the mainstream.

For example, Edinburgh was ranked just seventh in 2017, according to Google Trends. But by 2018, the Scottish city boasted over 160 vegan or vegetarian restaurants, and now has the largest number of vegan restaurants in Scotland.

But while the rest of the world may be catching up to Vancouver, the rest of the country is not. Canada landed fifth in veganism among countries, between Sweden and Israel, but even that respectable ranking is largely due to the West Coast influence. No other Canadian city made it into the top 20.